Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

The mission of Peace Theatre is to create a culture of peace by engaging children and youth through the practice of theatre.

VALUES

We believe:

• that peace is possible
• that there is no peace without justice
• that we have a collective responsibility to foster and model a culture of peace
• that children and youth will be the instigators of social change
• in the transformational power of theatre to foster leadership through artistic engagement that creates and empowers responsible citizenship
• that our artistic practice must value equally process and performance
• that we have a commitment to our community
• that a respectful, inclusive and transparent environment is essential to our work

Peace Theatre has developed an arts-based approach that deals with entrenched social problems with the children and youth who are our future leaders. Programs and productions are collaborations between the finest professional artists and young people, resulting in compelling art, which arises directly from their concerns and fears.

Theatre is a natural mode in which to explore conflict. It invites participants to step into the shoes of the other, to develop empathy and understanding. Peace Theatre, in a safe space, engages children and youth in a powerful, transformative process that helps them recognize how they are part of and affected by patterns of social behaviour, and how in turn they contribute to, or break free of those patterns. There is a natural progression from this personal understanding of conflict, to the communal, and the global aspect of our work, and many of our productions focus on issues that affect the young people in our world.

Our work is unique. It has the power to transform individuals, to make the unspeakable heard, and to create meaning out of seemingly senseless violence. The collaborative experience of creating theatre on subjects of importance to them gives children and youth the understanding to develop their own moral compass and further the cause of peace in their lives, in this troubled community, and in the world.

History of Organization

The Children’s Peace Theatre mission is to create a culture of peace by engaging children and young people through the practice of theatre. Award-winning theatre artist Robert Morgan created Children’s Peace Theatre (CPT) in 2000 to honour the United Nations’ Declaration of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World.
As their work gained international attention, CPT was invited to perform at the Declaration announcement at the United Nations headquarters in New York. But the 25 CPT children, youth and adults who had been looking forward to the prestigious event with such delight were turned back at the U.S. border. The date was September 11th, 2001.

As the grim events of that day unfolded, the world changed, and a culture of fear and mistrust among diverse cultures gained ascendance. Today’s children and youth have grown up in that shadow. The children of CPT returned home and created a new and very different theatre piece that explored both the feelings and the questions raised by the terrorist attacks. They toured their new songs and stories of peace through schools, libraries and community centres, helping others to come to terms with the new reality and understand that everyone can contribute to a culture of peace.
 
Over the next five years, CPT continued to provide summer programs for children 8 to 12 in Toronto’s high-risk Crescent Town. CPT’s professional artists worked at the grass roots level in schools and local communities and at the same time CPT organized and performed at events that featured Romeo Dallaire, Jane Jacobs and Jean Vanier. But fresh challenges were imminent.
Violence struck close to home in the “Summer of the Gun” 2005 when a neighbourhood teenager, Drew Stewart, was senselessly and brutally murdered. CPT artists and staff volunteered to work on their own time with a group of 15 of Drew’s friends. Drawing on their personal memories of his life as well as the raw and painful emotions evoked by his violent death, Drew’s Group created a moving piece of theatre in remembrance of their lost friend.
The work that these young people did each week at CPT led them to confront the complex reality of violence in their lives and in the lives of so many youth in their city. They struggled to reconcile their desire for peace with their need for justice and their desire for revenge.  Bravely, they chose peace and channelled their emotions and deliberations into a powerful play that they performed throughout the city. The YMCA awarded Drew’s Group the 2006 YMCA Peace Medallion for their moving and courageous work.

Drew’s Group profoundly changed CPT.  Recognizing the need to broaden its reach, the Children’s Peace Theatre became simply Peace Theatre, which now operates year-round, offering 14 programs and projects for over 2,000 children and youth of all ages and backgrounds every year.
 
Peace Theatre has the power to transform individuals by speaking the unspeakable and creating meaning out of senseless violence. The collaborative experience of creating theatre on subjects that are important to them gives young people the skills and the consciousness to shape their own moral views and to further the cause of peace in their own lives, within their troubled community and throughout the world.

Programs

>Peace Camp
>Youth Leaders Theatre Project

Peace Theatre has been honoured with the Mayor’s Community Safety Award and the Leonardo Da Vinci award for Innovation and Creativity in the Arts.

“They (Peace Theatre) are building the foundation for a better community and for peace, one young person at a time. We have both been changed by being here. Our lives in this community are complicated and sometimes difficult. Peace Theatre, this organization and this place have become ours and the experiences we have had here will stay with us for the rest of our lives.” - Participants Beth, 18 and Hayley, 17

“The Children’s Peace Theatre is a pioneer in teaching our youth the importance of living and practicing the principles of peace in order to create happy and harmonious homes, communities, country and world. I commend you and continue to support your work” -THE HONOURABLE MARIA MINNA, M.P. BEACHES-EAST YORK

“Engaging and empowering youth through the arts is a creative and effective way to teach the importance of conflict resolution and encourage peace building and I commend the Children’s Peace Theatre for the tremendous work they do for our community.” - MAYOR DAVID MILLER

“Since 2001, the Peace Theatre has been a forum for children and youth to explore peaceful alternatives to resolving conflict in the world. I’d like to congratulate and thank the staff, volunteers, participants and supporters of the Children’s Peace Theatre for their work in making our community and the world a more peaceful place.” - COUNCILLOR JANET DAVIS
WARD 31 BEACHES EAST YORK

Peace Camp

   For three weeks in July, children, youth, and professional artists gather at our beautiful home in Taylor Creek Park to work and play together to create some of the best summer theatre Toronto has to offer. The work they produce each year is an original performance based on explorations of relevant social issues and the children’s visions of peace.

Through the process of collaborative theatre, music and art, participants discover new things about themselves and the world. By engaging fully with others in a unique atmosphere of trust and creativity, hard work and fun play, they learn to face their conflicts with courage, compassion and creativity and experience the meaning of community.

Peace Camp culminates in three theatrical performances, including a Saturday night Gala.

In 2005, Mayor David Miller gave special recognition to The Children’s Peace Theatre for our Summer Peace Camp.  

Program Impact

For the past ten years Peace Camp has been providing a unique opportunity for children and youth to participate in a collaborative artistic process with professional artists and perform for the public.

Peace Camp has also been providing mentorship and employment opportunities for 20 youth each year ages 14-29 to work with the artists and mentor the younger campers.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“Cities alive with culture attract creative people. And people in creative occupations stimulate the creative economy (one based not on the production of goods and services so much as on the creation and transfer of intellectual property). The City of Toronto’s plan to build cultural capacity – growing the creative sectors, and supporting lively cultural expression at the neighbourhood level, is based on the conviction that creativity is the basis of a strong and prosperous City.”

“More than half of all parents (56%) reported that of their children participate in sports and recreation activities outside school hours. But almost one quarter (23%) of children never participate in such activities. 41% of children regularly participate in extracurricular arts programs; more than one-third (36%) never have that opportunity.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

“When I first came here, I was in a dark place.  Peace Theatre was my safety, my solace, my creative outlet. I had the opportunity to work as a youth guide at Peace Camp 2009.  It is a real privilege-the amazing things that come out of the children’s mouths are inspiring.  Peace Camp gives beautiful opportunities for kids to create and explore real issues- both personal ones and issues that affect children around the world.  They will take this learning with them.  We are finishing the middle week of camp this week and the play we will perform on July 25th is taking shape.  The exploration part of Peace Camp was awesome.  Working here all day, every week day, in a creative and collaborative way has been one of the best experiences of my life.  I can see the changes in the children as they get excited about their ides and the possibilities to express those ideas in the play”. – Hayley, 16, camp guide 2009

“Before my experience at Peace Theatre, I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life. Working with the artists at Peace Camp opened me up creatively, and gave me the confidence to speak out.  I took the skills I learned at Peace Camp and worked with children in another high needs neighbourhood, Regent Park. We developed a video together called “Bike Man,” which got the attention of the press. Peace Camp had taught me to be a leader and a good collaborator.  Now I have graduated from Ryerson in radio and television arts and am doing an internship at the Rogers Centre”. - Naguib, 20, camp guide 2005 

Youth Leaders Theatre Project

The Youth Leaders Theatre Project (YLTP) is a FREE theatre training and creation program based on the Peace Theatre principles of collaborative creation, community development and youth engagement. With the belief that peace is possible, participants work collaboratively with professional theatre artists and their peers to develop original plays and present them at local venues and public events across the G.T.A. Past groups have performed at Theatre Passe Muraille, and for the Luminato Festival in the Distillery District.
YLTP produces its own youth festival “Speak Out” every June to present their work and invite other youth to find their voice, share their stories and use art for social change.
The core objective of the project is to: create a safe space for newcomer and refugee youth to interact with their Canadian peers in order to discover and define their common ground.  Youth learn theatre and arts skills while examining the roots of violence in their lives; the effect of violence on both victims and perpetrators; and ways in which violence can be prevented.  
YLTP helps youth develop skills that are needed to confront and deal with violence.  They include: good communication skills; non-violent conflict resolution choices; the ability to understand and take the perspective of others into account (empathy); problem solving that includes learning about alternatives to violence; healthy relationships built on respect for self and others; and support and help-seeking skills.
Marginalized youth from the two priority neighbourhoods will work with those who are different from themselves and experience the creative change that emerges from co-operation, communication and true respect.

Program Impact

For the past 5 years Peace Theatre has been developing award winning youth programs.  The work began in 2005 in response to the brutal murder of a 16 year old in our community.  From 2005-2007 Peace Theatre artists worked with the friends of the victim and his family to explore their anger and loss and collaboratively create a theatrical memorial on the anniversary of his murder.  Subsequently, the group continued to work with Peace Theatre to develop a piece which they performed in many different venues in Toronto.  Drew’s Group, as they became known was awarded the YMCA Peace Medallion for its work spreading a message of anti-violence in the community.  Peace Theatre with the support and input from members of Drew’s Group went on to develop the Youth Leaders Theatre Project as well as several other youth programs and collectives.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“Youth unemployment in the Toronto Region surpassed 20% in June 2009:

• Youth in the Toronto Region have been particularly affected by the contraction in the economy. The unemployment rate in June 2009 for 15-24 year-olds rose to 20.1% from 15.3% in June 2008
• The youth unemployment rate in the City of Toronto averaged 15.3% during 2008.”

“Most Torontonians feel they belong to their local community, but discrimination erodes a sense of identification with Canada:

• 65.6% of Torontonians feel a strong or somewhat strong sense of belonging to their local community, an increase of 7.4 percentage points between 2005. Continuing an established trend, the percentage in 2008 was highest among 12 -19 year-olds and lowest among 34 - 44 year-olds.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

“I have lived in the greater Crescent Town area for my entire life and have had personal experiences of violence, conflict and daily harassment.  I know first hand that youth here face a larger set of difficulties than youth living in other economically stronger areas.  Peace Theatre is an amazing organization that puts the concerns of youth first.  Everything they do relates to the needs of young people.  They provide safe space for children and youth to be seen and heard and create the possibilities for deep and powerful experiences.  The space itself-an old house on a hill in the middle of a forest is beautiful and peaceful and very unique.
I would like to talk first about the Youth Leaders Program. For the past year I have participated in YLTP.  We worked with two phenomenal artists to explore issues of conflict and violence.  When we first arrived last October the group didn’t know each other.  The artists took us through theatre games, exercises, discussions which helped us explore negative feelings that lead to and perpetuate conflict.  They helped us see conflict from the others point of view. I realized that when conflict happened at school or other places , we are told to get over it, to apologize and move on.  Peace Theatre’s approach is different.  We are encouraged to figure out why and how the conflict happened and look honestly at the issues that are part of it.

There was tremendous personal growth for all 40 0f us in the group.  At our weekly dinner, we all began to participate in discussions that came out of the explorations.  From being led by the artists, we morphed into shared leadership-with all of us bringing forward ideas and figuring out how to get things done.” -  Susan 17 (name has been changed to protect real person).